LOUISVILLE, Ky. — With Canada ready and willing to create a mandate for electronic stability control, the US seems poised to move ahead with its own regulation soon.

Fred Andersky, director of government affairs with Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is promising a rule May 7, however, previous deadlines have come and gone.

“I’ll be happy if they get it out before the end of the second quarter,” Andersky said at the Mid-America Trucking Show, adding he’s more optimistic than ever that a mandate will be announced this year.

The US mandate will require full electronic stability control and will be implemented in two phases, with tractors affected in 2017. The debate about whether roll stability will be accepted under the mandate appears to have died out.

Andersky said ESC is outselling RSC by a ratio of 3:1, up from about 3:2 in recent years.

“In 2014, we saw roll stability control sales go down from the previous year, while ESC sales increased,” Andersky noted.

Bendix itself has seen demand for its ESC grow 35% last year.

“Most fleets that recognize the value of stability, are choosing full stability,” Andersky said.

Also on the regulatory front, Andersky said NHTSA has been petitioned to create a rulemaking requiring collision mitigation systems. The agency has 120 days to grant or deny the petition, but “We think they’re going to grant it,” Andersky noted.

A notice of proposed rulemaking mandating collision mitigation systems would not come out until mid-2017, with full implementation not expected until the end of the decade.

Bendix also is pushing government to grant permanent windshield clearance exemptions for safety devices. Currently, devices can’t be placed within the wiper sweep area of the windshield without an exemption. Those exemptions expire every two years, with Bendix’s needing renewal in November. The company would like such exemptions to be made permanent so it’s easier for enforcement agencies to recognize what can and can’t be placed in the windshield and to eliminate the work involved in pursuing exemption renewals.